In 2024 the Retail Plaza celebrates 40 years of creation. The celebration will feature artistic and cultural displays that will highlight the social importance of the Plaza for the city.
By Tatiana Balvin
Around the Plaza Minorista José María Villa the history of Medellín and the Aburrá Valley is told. The commerce that takes place there daily has brought social and economic progress to the region. Currently 10,000 people are supported by Retail and the food security of hundreds of families depends.
“Here an added value is generated for the city; We have the ability to generate price regulation in the basic products of the family basket since by buying from medium and small producers or farmers we can maintain accessible prices for all merchants, especially those in neighborhood stores… we are the great pantry of the city” “says Edison Palacio, Manager of the Retail Plaza.
The oldest merchants or founders of the Retailer remember that they began working in “El Pedrero” located in Cisneros where the Plaza de las Luces is currently located, a place that did not have food safety conditions. It was on August 30, 1980 when the agreement for the construction of the current Plaza was signed and it was founded in 1984 after the collective demand of hundreds of merchants for better working conditions.
In the Retail Manager there are up to four generations; “Our founders were there and today they have been here for 39 years and they still continue to be those natural leaders of the Plaza who preserve that social economy scheme but who have delegated the continuity of the business and entrepreneurship to their children and grandchildren.”
“There I started as a merchant and I have the best memories. But now the Plaza has seen all our families grow,” says Horacio de Jesús Álvarez, founding merchant.
The retailer innovates for its 40 years
Every day from 3:00 in the morning the Retailer receives a variety of products from all over the country and some imported ones. The supply overcomes obstacles typical of the national geography such as the closure of roads, having supply from all corners of the country allows for a variety of offers, references and prices, especially for businesses such as hotels and restaurants, which are those that generate the greatest demand.
“We are betting on innovation so that beyond the personalized purchase and sale of products, people can also do it online. We are preparing so that the public can buy products through an application with prices from the Retail Plaza, this will allow a projection towards the neighborhoods and townships with dispatches and deliveries, which requires a logistical ally to sell digitally.” says the Manager.
Starting in 2023, the Retailer has a great commitment to development that includes: improvement in the physical infrastructure with a renewable energy system and solar panels, expansion of parking spaces in order to improve customer service, and make improvements to the treatment of organic waste to become an environmentally sustainable Plaza and lower the carbon footprint.
In 2024, for the 40th anniversary, the celebration will be on a high note; In addition to an artistic and gastronomic exhibition, there will be a great reflection on what the Retail Plaza means for the city’s supply system.
“So the four decades that the Retailer is celebrating will be the opportunity to make ourselves known as a good for public use but also a reference for the city in what has to do with culture and the social economy,” says Manager Edison.
It is about paying tribute to and remembering a space that has allowed Medellín to advance and foster the development of the region.
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